Fever
by Prince Yves
Summary: Gratuitous Cye hurtcomfort goodness with Sage doing a lot of the comfort. Based on the idea that the guys were homeless at the beginning of the series. No overt slash but plenty of snuggling. And a fight. :


"It's come back." Kento walked up to Sage half-dragging Cye with him. He had one of Cye's arms pulled over his shoulder, and his armoured hand was gripping the thin wrist tightly. Cye's hand was limp and twitching from the shivers that racked his whole body. His eyes were closed in pain.

Kento let go of the smaller boy and Cye just toppled forwards and landed with a soft metallic thud against Sage's chest. His sub-armor flickered and disappeared, leaving him in just shorts and a thin sailor t-shirt clinging to his back with sweat.

"His fever's come back, Sage."

Sage remembered. _Five boys clinging together in a store doorway in the snow, two blankets between the five of them, all trying to protect the youngest from the biting air. Little Cye was shuddering and coughing uncontrollably. His skin was soaked with sweat and melted snow. His lip was bleeding where he'd bitten it to stop himself from crying._

Cye coughed painfully against Sage's shoulder and then slowly lifted heavy sea-green eyes to look at him. They were glazed and wet with tears. "Sorry…" he whispered, "bit too much of the old… poison…" His head flopped and Sage quickly caught his small weight and led him to the ground.

Kento kneeled down and let Cye's dizzy, aching head rest on his lap. Cye moaned and tried woozily to snuggle against his hard armoured thighs. "Whoa. Hold on, little buddy." Kento's sub-armor disappeared. Cye let out a whimper as his head jolted down a fraction of an inch. Then he slowly relaxed and let out a shaky breath. Kento's lap made the best pillow.

Sage gently ran his hands over Cye's shivering body, steadying him and laying his weak limbs out straight to feel for injuries. Cye just moaned quietly wherever Sage touched. He hurt all over. "Shh…" whispered Sage. His violet eyes shone softly with concentration behind his flowing hair, and the green kanji began to glow on his forehead.

Sage didn't know how much he could do to heal the youngest warrior. This fever wasn't really a battle thing. Sekhmet's poison and the pain of battle had only stirred and woken up what was already there. The boy had never really been well since that winter. The constant fighting, cold and hunger had given him no chance to recover. He pushed his body to the limits and never complained. So many nights they'd had to sit up with him, holding him, rubbing his chest when he coughed and whispering nonsense to get him through the pain.

Sage laid his hands on Cye's narrow, heaving chest. The boy's heart fluttered and throbbed against them. A healing green glow spread from his fingertips and Cye's painful breathing eased just a little. He touched Cye's forehead and the blue kanji pulsed in response. Trust. The tension drained from Cye's face and body and his moaning quieted. He looked peaceful but frighteningly weak, barely alive except for the burning flush on his lips and cheeks.

"I've…. sedated him a little," whispered Sage. "It's the best I can do." Kento nodded, frowning and looking like he was ready to punch something but he wasn't sure what.

"Uh oh, what's the problem?" Rowen came up with an exhausted Ryo leaning on him and White Blaze prowling beside them. Ryo's look of battered triumph instantly changed to guilt and anguish. He slid off Rowen and dropped to his knees.

"Cye! I shouldn't have let you fight!"

"Chill, Wildfire," growled Kento. "He's sedated. Don't wake him."

Sage nodded quietly. He carefully gathered up Cye's unresisting body and stood, cradling him close. One limp arm dropped and swung helplessly. Rowen gently lifted the trailing arm and laid it across Cye's chest.

"We better find a good place to hide out tonight," said Sage. "He's gonna have a rough night."

Sage started walking, leading the way but not sure where they were heading. He was afraid to tell the others how sick Cye really was. The fever was raging higher than it ever had before. Cye was burning up in his arms. It hurt to hold him. He didn't just need a quiet corner of a sidewalk or a park bench to lay his painful body on, he needed shelter and a soft bed, cool pillows and clean sheets. He needed his element, water. He needed sponge baths and ice packs. He needed medicine and food.

"Kento? When did he last eat?"

"Uh… I believe it was the pocky Rowen swiped two days ago." Kento blushed darkly and looked at the ground. "It's not my fault, I try to make him eat but you know how fussy he is."

"Two days."

"Yeah."

"Pocky."

"Yeah." Kento switched to staring at the darkening sky and blinking repeatedly until he tripped and fell over.

"Look where you're going, rockhead." Rowen pulled him back onto his feet and Kento swiped at him halfheartedly.

"Ryo?" Sage looked worriedly over his shoulder. "You feeling strong enough to carry him? He's getting a little too hot to handle."

"Uh… sure." Ryo held out his arms to receive Cye. Sage laid the limp body in Ryo's arms as carefully as if he was a china doll. For a second both of them together were cradling him and supporting his head in their hands. Then he was cuddled close against Ryo's chest.

"Man, he weighs nothing tonight. He's like a ghost."

"Don't say it, Wildfire," Sage almost snapped. "A normal human would be dead already at that temperature."

"Oh, Cye…" Ryo stopped in his tracks and his body glowed red for a second. Cye groaned at the extra heat and his eyes fluttered open.

"Water…" he mouthed. No sound came out at all. His lips were deep red, dry and cracked. "Please… water…" His eyes closed again. "Hurts…"

"Shh, Cye, I know it hurts. There. Shh." Sage laid a hand on his forehead to calm him. Cye whimpered as Sage's healing light slowly engulfed him. He trembled and went rigid for a second in agony, and then relaxed. Two tears rolled down his scarlet cheeks. Sage stroked them away and his hands glided slowly down the curve of his throat to his chest.

Cye shivered and the tears kept flowing as Sage gently rubbed his chest. The soft light wrapped around his aching limbs like an extension of Sage's hands. Blue and violet bruises were already blossoming under the flushed skin. He gasped when the light touched them. They throbbed and flared up for a moment and then faded away to nothing, like ink washed away in water.

The light dimmed. Cye's sea-green eyes opened for a moment. He blinked away the tears and gazed up at Sage with dreamy unfocussed gratitude. "Better," he whispered.

Sage petted his drenched auburn hair and smiled. "Good. Now let's move on. We need a place to rest tonight. With water."

"Park!" exclaimed Kento.

"Excuse me?"

"Kaori Park. The wishing fountain. The one with the stone dolphins and the angel dude."

"Gonna be fun getting him in there."

"Well, it's water and he loves it. We can lie him in there and cool him down. 'Sides, if you go in over the south wall there's always a million bags of fries lying around the burger van. People eat like two fries and then drop 'em on the ground."

"Great, Kento, thanks for that." Sage shook his head and led off in the direction of Kaori Park.

As soon as they started moving again, Cye began to sway dizzily in Ryo's arms. His breathing became hoarse and panicky and he started to cough. Ryo held him tight, trying to keep him steady and suppress the bursts of pain that racked his body with every cough. All three of the other boys crowded round him and helped to steady his jerking, convulsing body and support his head. He was crying again by the time the spasms ended.

Sage dried his tears and solemnly leaned down to kiss his burning throat. Cye melted just from that one touch of Sage's lips. He flopped in Ryo's arms and the hoarse rattling in his chest sounded almost like a purr. Still tearful, but very weakly smiling, he let Ryo carry him on. Sage walked beside them with one arm around Ryo's shoulders and the other cradling Cye's dizzy head to help keep it still.

"Cye, man, you can't have anything left in there to throw up."

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Ryo gave Rowen a tired smack on the leg and then slumped back to the ground. "Dude, that doesn't help."

Sage and Kento were on their knees, holding Cye up with his arms across their shoulders while he choked and retched. His eyes and nose were streaming. He'd been throwing up pure acid and blood from his raw throat. Now his starved stomach was completely empty, but the dry heaves wouldn't stop. He was sobbing and close to blacking out.

"We shouldn't have brought him in here!" growled Ryo. "He's way too sick to be hauled over a wall by a tiger." White Blaze made an indignant noise and Ryo petted him. "I'm sorry, boy, but that was way too intense."

Cye's body went into one last spasm and then collapsed. His head hung down between his thin shoulders, completely still. "Cye!" Kento cried out.

Sage touched Cye's chest and kept his hand there for a moment. "He's still breathing. Just." He could feel the boy's life force flickering and almost going out. He started to pray silently to the Shinto gods.

Rowen ran over to Cye and lifted his head. His eyes were closed, and the deathly look had come back.

"Cye, yer face is a mess." Rowen pulled a dirty white rag out of his pocket and tenderly wiped his burning face and forehead. "Hang in there, little buddy," he whispered. Then he stood up straight and dropped the rag in the grass. "C'mon, guys, we gotta get 'im to the water."

Sage and Kento looked at each other and slowly rose to their feet. Cye just trailed between them, crucified. His tattered sneakers trailed in the wet grass as they dragged him towards the fountain.

The splashing sound grew louder as they approached. It was almost musical. Falling water shone white in the dusk around the curved silhouettes of stone dolphins. The statue of an angel, with head bowed and hands outstretched in blessing, rose tall out of the spray.

Coins glinted on the bottom of the pool as the two tired warriors carefully lifted their comrade and laid him in. Cye's auburn hair floated on the water and his thin shirt fluttered around his body. The solemn angel looked as if it was watching over Cye, or mourning over him.

"Aah!" Green eyes flew open and four anxious faces lit up with relief. "C-cold!" Cye gasped hoarsely. His teeth chattered and he tried to cling to Sage, shuddering all over. "'S bloody freezing…"

Sage smiled and sank down with him into the icy water, cuddling and supporting him. "Hush, Cye. It's helping you get better. Let it work. That's a good little fishy… just lie still…"

Cye kept shivering violently. His curled hands shook against his chest. Sage stroked the cold water over his forehead and temples and touched it to his dry cracked lips. Cye's hot tongue came out and he weakly lapped a few drops from Sage's fingers. He screwed his eyes shut and swallowed with a grimace of pain. Sage stroked his throat with cool wet hands to soothe it. Cye's glazed eyes opened and he mouthed, "More…"

Kento kneeled down in the water, dipped his cupped hands and helped Cye to drink from them while Sage supported his head. Without a word, Ryo and Rowen stepped into the pool, sank to their knees on either side of Cye and held his hands. Cye gripped them convulsively every time he swallowed. Sage kept stroking his throat reassuringly and bathing it with the cool water.

After five painful swallows Cye turned his face away, panting and heaving. "It's okay, little buddy, that's enough for now," said Kento. "Just rest and get better for us, kay?"

Sage carefully laid Cye's head back in the water and just let him lie, lapped in his element. His closed eyes fluttered and he sighed and sank in deeper. His shivering began to ease.

A high clear chime sounded out of nowhere and a soft golden light glowed in the water and then winked out. The four comrades looked at each other in confusion. Cye lay still, almost in a trance.

The light came again. It was shining from a coin on the bottom of the pool. A child's voice whispered, "I wish daddy would come back."

The coin went dark and another one shone with the same light. "I wish I had a kitten."

"I wish to be a dancer when I grow up."

"I wish Izumi would notice me."

The pool filled with lights and soft voices.

"Please, angel, make my wish come true…"

"I believe in you…"

Cye's kanji glowed blue under the wet locks of hair. "Trust," he whispered.

Suddenly the scene went dark. A harsh crack of lightning showed Cye's face in searing black and white. He lay completely still, eyes closed, hair blowing in a stormy blast of wind. Anubis in full armour strode down out of the sky.

"You wounded my comrade Sekhmet. Now see if you can vanquish me so easily!" The warlord threw back his masked head and roared with demonic laughter. Ranks of Dynasty soldiers appeared behind him. White Blaze growled and bristled as he stalked forward to face him.

"Bad moment!" yelled Kento.

"Yeah!" chimed in Rowen. "Not tonight, ugly, we're washing our hair!"

Ryo had no time for this banter. He leaped into the air and landed on one of the angel's outstretched wings. "Armor of Wildfire! Dao Jin!"

Sage flipped up out of the water and landed opposite him. They were balanced on the angel's wings. "Armor of Halo! Dao Chi!"

Kento and Rowen jumped up, streaming water, and moved in front of Cye to protect him.

"Armor of Hardrock! Dao Gi!"

"Armor of Strata! Dao Inochi!"

Anubis laughed as the mystic armors flashed onto the boys' bodies. "You cannot defeat me. One of your number is too weak to fight."

"Oh yeah? Defeat THIS!" yelled Ryo. "FLARE UP NOW!"

Fire exploded from Ryo's twin swords and arced across the sky, cutting a swathe through the Dynasty soldiers. But when the smoke cleared, Anubis was still standing.

"I don't believe it!" exclaimed Rowen. "He's still standing!"

The four warriors and the tiger hurled themselves at the enemy.

"QUAKE WITH FEAR!" boomed Anubis, striking his kusari-gama into the ground. Light exploded out of it and chains snaked into the air, wrapping themselves around the four ronins' bodies. Even White Blaze was ensnared in the chains. He lifted his head and roared with rage. The boys writhed and grimaced, struggling to get free.

"Give up, Ronin Warriors! Your war is over!" jeered Anubis.

There was a sound from the fountain. All four boys went suddenly silent and twisted in their chains to stare as Cye of the Torrent struggled to his hands and knees with water streaming from his hair.

"Lie down, little boy! You can't fight me! You can't even stand!"

Cye's fists clenched and he grimaced in pain. Sweat dripped from his forehead and his kanji glowed as he forced himself inch by painful inch to stand upright. He stood in the water with his legs braced wide apart, tottering and swaying, but he didn't fall. The blue sub-armor appeared on his wet body, flickered for a second, and stayed. He glared up at Anubis. When he opened his mouth his voice came out loud and clear.

"Armor of Torrent… Dao… Shin!"

Lights flashed and ribbons of cherry blossom swirled around Cye. His feverish body arched as the armor of Torrent flew into place. With every piece, he seemed to grow stronger. He gripped his trident and stood up to his full height.

"Super…Wave….Smasher!"

The force of his own attack almost knocked him backwards. He gritted his teeth and beads of sweat stood out on his forehead as the powerful blast of water sent his enemies flying.

"I'll get you next time, Ronins!" Anubis shook his fist as he disappeared over the horizon.

The chains dematerialized. Ryo, Sage, Rowen and Kento slowly picked themselves up. At the same moment Cye's shaking legs finally gave way and he collapsed backwards into the fountain. His armor and then his sub-armor flickered and disappeared, and he was just a half-starved, sick little street boy again.

"He's fainted!" yelled Kento, splashing into the water beside him. "Cye! Cye! Wake up, buddy, that was incredible!"

"Yeah, you saved us!" Rowen took Cye's hand as Sage gently sat him up and stroked the wet hair from his forehead. Cye's head lolled sideways onto Sage's shoulder.

"He's cooler," whispered Sage. "His fever's breaking."

Ryo stood looking down at him with his eyes full of emotion as White Blaze padded into the water and nuzzled the unconscious boy.

Cye's green eyes slowly opened and he sighed exhaustedly. "Ahh… did I do alright?" he croaked.

"Cye!" Kento scooped up his tiny friend and squeezed him painfully tight. "You did the best, man! You were awesome! How on earth did you do it?"

Cye looked down and blushed redder than ever. "Aw, it was nothing."

"It was the wishing fountain," Sage answered for him. "Water… and trust… it healed him better than I could."

Cye reached up weakly out of Kento's arms and gave the stone angel a shaky high-five. Sage caught the wavering hand and kissed it, making Cye almost faint again.

"Thanks, little buddy," said Ryo. "We owe you." Cye shook his head modestly, then reeled with dizziness and buried his face in Sage's chest.

Sage petted his wet hair affectionately. "There," he said. "Now we're gonna get you dried off, and wrapped up warm, and you can use Kento for a pillow and Ryo for a hot water bottle all night. And maybe Rowen can steal you some chicken soup."


End file.
